Hackel, Levin lend hand to Peters’ Senate campaign

Rep. Gary Peters, D-Mich., left, stands Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel endorses him at the United Auto Workers Local 1264 in Sterling Heights, Mich., Monday, March 3, 2014. Peters planned to put Republican Terri Land on the defensive in their U.S. Senate race by highlighting her 2012 opposition to the federal bailout of General Motors and Chrysler, which is widely credited with saving the U.S. auto industry. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

The struggling Gary Peters for Senate campaign rolled out two of Macomb County’s Democratic big guns on Monday to blast Peters’ Republican opponent, Terri Lynn Land, for her opposition to the 2009 auto rescue loans and for her use of the term “Government Motors” in reference to GM.

In a press conference at UAW Local 1264 in Sterling Heights, County Executive Mark Hackel was joined by a small group of auto workers and said that Peters, a Democratic U.S. House member from West Bloomfield Township, “stood by the workers, but Land stood by her party” during the 2012 presidential race.

In a conference call with reporters, U.S. Rep. Sander Levin said he was “flabbergasted” by Land’s use of the derogatory Government Motors phrase, which has been uttered repeatedly by out-of-state critics of the domestic auto industry. A fellow Democratic congressman, Levin said he believes Peters can make the case that Land’s perceived attitude about Michigan’s main economic engine should “disqualify” her from representing the state in the Senate.

The Michigan Democratic Party released an August 2012 video in which Land, the former Michigan secretary of state, was asked about GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s opposition to the auto bailout package for General Motors and Chrysler.

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In a rambling answer, she said: “I’m with him on that.”

Land campaign spokeswoman Heath Swift told the Associated Press that Land has always supported the auto industry but when the bridge loans were granted by the Obama administration “she was not convinced on the specific plan that was proposed.”

In response to the question posed by The Macomb Daily, “Was and is Land opposed to the auto bailouts?” Swift responded:

“Terri supports creating an environment that will allow the U.S. auto industry to thrive for generations to come, which includes developing fair trade agreements that prevent foreign nations from manipulating their currency exchange rates, modernizing American energy production to lower costs for manufactures and families, and getting rid of expensive and onerous regulations which make it more difficult and more costly for our companies at home to do business, build their cars, and create jobs.”

Land has led in several consecutive Senate race polls at the same time that she has maintained a relatively low profile, relying upon the impact of a $1.7 million TV and radio ad campaign paid for by Americans for Prosperity, the conservative Koch brothers-financed group that has blasted Peters’ support for the Obamacare health reforms.

Peters, who recently returned from a 6-day campaign trip in the frigid Upper Peninsula, said he believes Land will soon be forced out of her “bunker” to answer questions from the press.

Some nine months after she declared her Senate candidacy, the former 8-year secretary of state, whose voter familiarity statewide is considered a key advantage, released a website ad last week that laid out her biography, not her stances on the issues.

A three-term congressman, Peters received a glimmer of good news on Monday when a new statewide poll conducted by Washington-based Clarity Campaign Labs found the presumptive Democratic nominee with a 46-40 percent lead over Land in the race to replace retiring Sen. Carl Levin.

Peters’ decision to emphasize the auto bailout issue is hardly a surprise as he seeks the backing of blue-collar workers and those non-auto workers who feared their jobs would be wiped out by a ripple effect if GM and Chrysler folded.

At the UAW hall in Sterling Heights, Jennifer Szpynda, a 15-year auto industry veteran and mother of two who temporarily lost her Chrysler Stamping Plant job five years ago, stepped forward to say that she owes a “debt of gratitude” to Peters for his role in the auto rescue.

Her union president, Bob Stuglin, who represents 1,800 workers at the Stamping Plant in Sterling Heights and 3,000 UAW retirees, also extended a hand of thanks to the congressman.

“A few years ago, the American auto industry was in terrible shape,” he said. “But because of people like Gary Peters who stood with us, they helped us survive. And … right now, we’re hiring new people.”

Democratic Rep. Gary Peters, left, received support for his Senate candidacy from County Executive Mark Hackel and UAW Local 1264 President Bob Stuglin, center, at the union’s Sterling Heights hall.